The 45th Hofstra University Distinguished Faculty Lecture was presented today by Dr. Sina Rabbany, the Jean Nerken Distinguished Professor of Engineering and founding director of the Bioengineering Program in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His lecture was titled “Regenerative Technologies: The Future of Medicine in Health Care in the United States,” and was delivered during Common Hour at the Guthart Theater.

(L to r) Provost Herman Berliner; Dr. Sina Rabbany, and Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Simon Ben-Avi

In this lecture, Dr. Rabbany discussed his research on generating a functional and stable microvasculature, which remains one of the major challenges in engineering replacement organs. He also discussed advances that have occurred in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and described applications of these technologies that offer therapies which address the changing health care needs of an aging population.

With thousands of people in need of transplants, researchers are trying to grow new organs. One major challenge for designing new organs is that the engineered tissues need to include blood vessels that can connect to the patient’s own blood supply. Dr. Rabbany’s research, in the field of cellular and tissue engineering, attempts to address this concern. He has recently developed a technology to generate vascular constructs by utilizing scaffolds to promote 3-D structures, which provide physical cues for cell attachment and spreading. Currently he is working on elucidating the role of the biochemical and biophysical environment on vascular cells and engineering of vascularized constructs to replace, restore or enhance organ function.